How To Make Any Sport More Enthralling

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Sports are a great pastime, and a hugely popular one for many people around the world. But sometimes, you might find yourself wishing that they could be just a little bit more exciting, especially if nothing much has really been happening within the game itself for a while, whichever sport you happen to follow most of all. Fortunately, there are so many things you can think about doing in order to make a sport more interesting and exciting, and in this post we are going to take a look at just a few of them.

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Betting

A lot of people like to make sports more interesting through the simple act of betting on them. Although you do of course need to make sure that you are taking care not to land yourself in any particular trouble here, and that you are only ever gambling what you can afford to lose, betting it nonetheless is a hugely enjoyable thing for a lot of people. You can bet on the simple outcome of the game, or you could even try your hand at some of the other markets that will always be available - such as score outcome or difference, or anything else. This gives you a reason to be invested in the game, which really helps.



Fantasy Teams

If you have never looked into creating your own fantasy team, this is something you might want to think about. It can be truly amazing how much of a difference it makes to your enjoyment of the game, and in quite a different way to when you are betting on it. Your fantasy team can be in pretty much any sport and involve whoever you want, and the beauty of it is that it allows you to kind of play a game within a game. To start, you can check out some daily fantasy sports tips or just go ahead and try it for yourself. In either case, you are going to find this really makes a huge difference to your enjoyment of the sport in question.

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Getting Involved

One way that sports are always going to be a lot more exciting is if you get involved in playing them yourself. Although this is not always viable, most people should be able to find a local club or group they can get with and start playing. That alone is going to mean that you are much more likely to enjoy it and feel a part of it, and before you know it, this could even make that sport suddenly a bigger part of your life. That is a great reason to get into it, even before you think about all of the other benefits to your life it might bring - such as getting fit and possibly even making you some money on the side.





These are just some of the interesting ways to make a sport more interesting, no matter who you are or what the sport might be.

The Hard Skills That Go Into Creating A Game

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Whether you want to seek a career in working with one of the big development teams out there or you want to cut your teeth in the indie scene, you have to build the skills that are crucial to making a video game. Here, we’re going to look at some of the skills that are vital for almost anyone seeking a career in video game development, and how you can build them.

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Programming

Simply put, video games are a type of software and all software is driven by code. Programming is the ability to write and use that code to create software of all kinds and a little coding is recommended for anyone wanting to go into any career in games. Though it can be tough to learn, and different languages are used for different engines and software, there are plenty of online coding courses that you can get started with, from free YouTube lessons to the more driven and focused paid lesson plans.



Game engines

Engines are effectively the software that is used to determine the operating rules of the game world. Engines are built out of code, and games are built using engines. However, the majority of developers do not start by building an engine from scratch (though it is sometimes necessary.) They may instead learn an engine to find a framework they can start with. Take the time to learn which engine is best for the time of games you want to make by comparing Unity vs Unreal and other options. Then, learn what language you need for them and how those engines operate to start game development.



Animation and graphic design

Most large development teams do have dedicated roles focused on little more than creating the best possible models and graphic elements, and animating them to bring them to life. However, in most cases, beginning game developers are going to be entirely in charge of the visual aspects of their own games. Learning to use rigging and animating software like 3dmax or Maya is essential to create the visual side of interactive media that is crucial from the player’s perspective. You can choose to specialize in this or not later down the line.



Game and level design

You also have to think about how the different assets you have developed all come together to actually create a game. Game design is just about the creative side of the process as well as the practical. What are the goals of the game, the challenges the player faces, and the mechanics that they use to address those challenges? Coming up with these, as well as the method that the player controls elements to manipulate those mechanics, is at the core of every single video game, from Pong to The Witcher 3.



There are a lot of positions in games that use skills not mentioned here, from creative writing to composing music. However, for the nuts and bolts of game development, these are the skills you need to consider.

IKEA Black Friday Deals

Jenn and I are huge IKEA fans--we’ve actually furnished the better part of our apartment with their furniture and accessories! Their stuff stands the test of time, and you can really style it so many different ways because of the clean lines and simple colors. Now that we have a baby, we’re actually going to be looking into some new pieces to add to her room to store her toys and make the space more functional. Since our daughter is home with us all day and getting more and more mobile, we are hoping to trick out her play space with some really cool IKEA toys (we’re thinking about the folding gym mat and some new stuffies for her)! We’re also hoping to get Jenn some new storage for all her crafting supplies, since all her supplies got shuffled around to make room for the baby. Maybe we’ll get her a cabinet like this that she can fill with baskets.  

We’re going to be keeping an eye on IKEA Black Friday Deals this year for the best prices on some new items for our home. IKEA has really great prices already, but we are hoping they may have some discounts or promo codes on a couple things. We’re using Slickdeals to keep track of all our holiday shopping this year, since they have a good pulse on all the best deals across the internet. 

I know right now shopping is hard to do in person, but IKEA has such great quality pieces and they always have the measurements to all of their furniture on their site, so you can double and triple check the dimensions you need before you place your order! They are doing Click and Collect for curbside pickup, and they can ship directly to your home (though shipping might be delayed because of COVID).  Also, just a pro tip, if you plan on ordering a lot of IKEA furniture, one of the greatest things you can do is invest in an IKEA specific toolset. I think these make great stocking stuffers, and they’ll save your hand from cramping up from gripping that Allen wrench for so long. 

Do you have anything from IKEA for  your kiddos or your craft rooms that you absolutely love, and that we should keep an eye out for? Let us know so we can add it to our shopping list!